For Immediate Release February 15, 2006

For More Information Contact: Mary Pat Poskon, 317-274-4019 mpposkon@iupui.edu

National Expert on Patient Safety to Keynote Annual Event

INDIANAPOLIS - A nationally recognized expert in rehabilitation nursing and patient safety, Patricia A. Quigley, PhD, ARNP, CRRN, the Deputy Director of the VISN 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry, James A. Haley VA Medical Center, Tampa, Florida, will be the distinguished lecturer at the Sixth Annual Sonna Ehrlich Merk Distinguished Lectureship on Friday, March 3, 2006.

The event, hosted jointly by the state's largest nursing school, IU School of Nursing and Indiana 's largest healthcare network, Clarian Health Partners, Inc. is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. in the Ruth Lilly Learning Center Auditorium, Riley Hospital Outpatient Center, lower level. Dr. Quigley will make a presentation entitled “Influential Partnerships” that will focus on examining innovative strategies to build influential partnerships resulting in important patient safety policy, practice, and education outcomes.

The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion and then a reception. Panel members include members of Clarian's “Safe Passage” program, a unique patient care safety program in which potential situations for error in a clinical setting are identified. By investigating potential scenarios, the group makes recommendations to the clinical staff on how to prevent errors.

With over 23 years of experience in rehabilitation nursing as a clinical nurse specialist, Quigley has been responsible for program development and evaluation (in-patient and out-patient) in comprehensive rehabilitation, staff development programs, rehabilitation clinical pathways, functional assessment initiatives, and innovations in patient care delivery systems. Her research interests are in patient outcomes, nurse satisfaction, staffing methods, and program evaluation.

Through her involvement in national organizations, Quigley has received many awards, including a Magnet Prize Award from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for innovation in practice and research (2003) and an Excellence in Nursing Research Award, Sigma Theta Tau International, Delta Beta Chapter (2001). Quigley has over 15 publications in refereed journals and numerous book chapters and has authored numerous training manuals and hospital reports and documents.

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The Sonna Ehrlich Merk Distinguished Lectureship was established in 2001 in honor of Sonna Ehrlich Merk, DNS, RN, who throughout her career created successful partnerships between clinical sites and academia. In 1997, she became the first senior vice president for nursing and patient care serves and chief nurse executive for Clarian Health, retiring in 2000 after a 30-year professional career in nursing. Since her retirement, Dr. Merk has branched out as an entrepreneur and consults with clients on projects related to nursing administration and operating room nursing.